Complementary Amino Acids: Nature’s Little Trick

Complementary amino acids, nature’s little marvel, is an adaptation our body uses to ease our everyday life. It turns out that it is not just hair color and makeup that complement each other. While it may seem like a human invention, the concept of complementarity has been around for a while and it is everywhere. Ying and yang. Day and night. Red and green. Sun and moon. Dusk and dawn. It is study of opposites that holds this world together. Body is just extrapolating on already existing phenomena.

Thankfully for us, the body’s interpretation of complementarity brings us complementary amino acids. Complementary amino acids are amino acids that put together make a full protein. And that is a great thing when meat or dairy products are not on the menu to conveniently serve up a full protein. No big deal, body has found a way to compensate for times when food choices are limited to plant life.

And believe it or not that is the thing that has brought us where we are today. As you can well imagine, humans were hardly the top of the food chain through ages. The only meat that got served in prehistoric times was the one hunted down by a Dinosaur. And we were lucky when we were not part of that particular menu. Without effective means to take on a Dino to score some meat, we were certainly the ones on the short end of a stick. To survive, our body found a way to cheat a little and put together amino acids found in plats to make full proteins we needed. And here we are today. Dino’s are all gone and we have taken over a planet. By being stronger and bigger? No. By being adaptable- yes.

Complementary proteins let us meet our daily protein requirements without consuming meat. Body obtains different amino acids from various food sources we provide and combines complementary ones into full proteins. As different food has different amino acid profiles we have to pick carefully to get complementary combination that works. When the right match is made, magic happens and a protein is born. And so by having complementary amino acids accidentally encounter each other with our body as a matchmaker the “you complete me” moment happens and our we remain in good health. And thank god for that because without proteins that would be a tricky affair indeed.

Complementary proteins enable us to adjust to a different life conditions and personal nutritional choices we make. We can live on plat life, if we so choose. And it gives us a piece of mind that even if ever, however unlikely, meat sources run out, we would still be able to survive. And that my friends is special indeed.